I am taking a three week holiday break. Look for me back in this space on Monday January 8 2018.

Many cultures and religions have some sort of celebration around the winter solstice, and nearly all of them serve to give people reassurance and hope — that in the darkest and coldest days there is light from love and warmth from friendship, and a certainty that spring and the season of growth will soon come. With that in mind,

Thanks to my readers for a great year. I wish you all the very best, and I will see you all in three weeks, cranky and ranting as usual!

Meant to post this notice on Wednesday, but I will be taking a midsummer break from the blog starting today. Look for me back on Monday, July 10. Everyone in the US have a great and safe Independence Day.

I’ll be taking a short Thanksgiving break to spend a few days cooking for a big group of friends and family, arguing politics and sports with everyone, watching football and old movies, telling everyone to pick up their dirty socks, playing endless games of Monopoly, and doing some winter preps in my garden to escape said friends and family periodically!

I’ll be back next Monday, November 30. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a good day and I hope you can be surrounded by those you love. If you don’t celebrate the day, have a great weekend! (And I still hope you can be surrounded by those you love.)